


When the Head Nods and the Shoulders Fall

by stone_in_focus



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Mass Effect 3, POV Male Shepard, POV Third Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-05 01:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/717174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stone_in_focus/pseuds/stone_in_focus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Head Nods and the Shoulders Fall

“For someone who’s hammered home the importance of following orders, you’ve sure gotten awful at taking them.”

Shepard nearly spilled coffee on himself when he heard the major’s voice, looking up to see his silhouette approaching from the end of the mess hall. To be fair, he probably would have botched it up, anyway. Garrus said he was about as terrible at operating the coffee maker as calibrating the _Normandy’s_  guns. Doing it in the dark decreased his accuracy by 85%.

He hoped that wouldn’t prove true for other things.

“Can’t sleep when the Reapers don’t, Kaidan.”

“Can’t fight, either, when you don’t sleep.” The soles of Kaidan’s feet gently padded against the tiled floor. “It’s almost zero three hundred hours, Shepard. And that better be decaf.”

Shepard leaned against the counter, lifting the mug to his lips and making a grunt that was neither affirmative nor negatory. “I was planning on putting whiskey in it to top it off.”

Kaidan mentioned he still hadn’t cracked open that bottle Shepard had given him back at Huerta. “If we shared a couple drinks,” he slid a palm over Shepard’s knuckles; Shepard caught his teeth on the edge of his mug, “then would you go to sleep?”

Shepard’s voice felt rough in the back of his mouth, almost raw. Like the frayed ends of the nerves in his brain reaching to his fingertips, needing to feel calluses that for once weren’t his own. “Okay, Major. It’s a deal.”

One arm went around Shepard’s waist. Another hooked around Kaidan’s neck. It was one gesture they didn’t have to guess at, didn’t have to sketch out maps of where their hands should be. It had been instinct from the very beginning, armor against armor, one set of lungs holding up the other. There were just a few less layers to peel through now.

As Kaidan dimmed the cabin lights, Shepard at least knew better how to navigate the dark for a pair of empty tumblers than that dumb coffee maker. Off popped the cork; up went the glasses as they clinked against each other; down went the whiskey like a match striking against Shepard’s throat, feeling the familiar bristle at the back of his neck, the rekindled burn in his chest.

Kaidan steered Shepard towards the couch, backs sinking into leather and shoulders leaning into each other. “Feels like forever since we’ve had an honest drink together.”

Feels like forever since a lot of things, Shepard wanted to add. Things he wished he’d realized before all the wear and tear and the hairs gone grey. Like how warm the major felt next to him when the gauntlets were off; how good the remnants of aftershave and sweat smelled on his skin. “Glad to know we’ve still got the basics down,” he said instead.

But it counted for something. And Kaidan being there counted for everything. 

“Mmm. Better than the basics. You’ve gone a whole ten minutes without even glancing at your terminal.”

And that was when Shepard noticed the blinking green light. “Shit. Sorry, Kaidan, I should really check…”

“Come on, Shepard, seriously? Now?”

“Hackett might’ve–”

Kaidan pulled him back. “You’re not a damn machine, all right?” 

“Most metal detectors would prove–”

“Would prove me otherwise. Yeah, I know,” Kaidan said. “Not so funny when a part of you starts believing it’s true.”

Shepard stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Never much good with jokes.”

“Yeah, I think even the hanar know that.” Kaidan tugged at a fistful of cotton, Shepard almost stumbling over his own feet as he fell against the major’s chest. Huh. Felt different without the hard suits between them. “So shut the hell up, Commander, because I’m pulling rank on this one.”

After that night, Shepard learned it was just common sense that you didn’t argue with someone who had his mouth pressed to yours. 

“You’re flesh…and blood,” Kaidan said, “and I…” He rolled his forehead against Shepard’s hairline, the twice-lived soldier easing into him. Words hitched; throats tightened. “I regret…not being there the last time.”

A kiss in the hollow of Shepard’s cheek.

“You don’t have to do this alone.”

A kiss at the square of Shepard’s jaw.

“Not anymore.”

Heavy eyelids found refuge in the corners of upturned lips. Huffs of hot air flushed the skin when they couldn’t hold back a chuckle. Hands fumbled along overgrown stubble and scraggly hairs dipping below waistbands. Muffled groans carried the weight of a thousand worlds and wouldn’t hesitate to carry a thousand more.

“Let me be your soft place to land.”

And then Shepard reached out, the crooks of his arms holding all of time and space. All at once, the breath rushed out of him.

“I missed you,” he said between soppy bits of rumpled up t-shirt. “I missed you so goddamn much.”


End file.
